Only two women can now deprive Melbourne of a big showdown between Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, the two best players in the world for three years, for Saturday’s final at the Australian Open. Paula Badosa, future opponent of Sabalenka, is the first thanks to her success over Coco Gauff on Tuesday. Madison Keys, the great lesson of the night, is the second. She will try her luck on Thursday against Iga Swiatek.
On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in France, Emma Navarro suffered almost the same fate as all the players in the women’s draw, during her quarter-final. Namely: she took two tough sets (6-1, 6-2) against Swiatek who had never appeared so sharp at the Australian Open, where she will play her second semi-final after 2022.
The duration of the match (1h29) shows, however, that the battle was more intense than appearances. If Navarro only had one break point, in vain, Swiatek broke five times and had to cling to the advantages three times in the first set and four times in the second to maintain his yoke on Navarro.
-Her qualification followed that of Madison Keys, who needed a much fiercer fight to eject Elina Svitolina (3-6, 6-3, 6-4). The No. 19 seed is one of the women in form of the season with ten consecutive victories and twelve successes in thirteen matches on the Tour this year. After losing the first set, Keys showed extraordinary aggression (49 points won out of 90 won), settling for one break per set.
Swiatek and Keys have never met in a Grand Slam. Swiatek leads 4-1 in their head-to-head matches. His only victory was recorded on hard, in 2023, in Cincinnati.
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